I have been writing about Seele, a new generation blockchain network based on cutting-edge technologies. My previous article focused on the technology stack of Seele was received well by the crypto community here on Steemit. In that article, I discussed Seele's Neural Consensus Algorithm and the Heterogenous Forest Network, which are two of the key drivers for its adoption moving forward. In this article, I'm focusing on one of the main business use cases of Seele. This particular one turns out to be one amongst the most anticipated and modernistic use cases out there - It is nothing but the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Internet of Things (IoT) is essentially an interconnection of large numbers of devices to create applications that are useful. The devices are connected to each other through the internet and exchange information with each other. IoT-enabled applications that are being developed are expected to effect radical changes in every industry - whether it's manufacturing, healthcare, energy, mobility etc.
It's well documented that IoT systems based in a centralized environment are subject to security, scalability, and privacy issues. This is why blockchain based decentralized IoT systems are increasingly becoming relevant. Of course, one can use blockchains for building IoT systems but there are issues with existing public blockchains. What are they? First of all, IoT is an interconnection of heterogenous devices and overcoming this heterogeneity aspect is one of the main hurdles while designing an IoT system.
As with blockchains, the traditional networks such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. are all single-chain structure and all transactions take place on one chain. Obviously, this has its advantages as it makes transactions and consensus mechanism relatively simple. However, when you need a complex use case such as the IoT, the single-chain structure cannot efficiently cater to a large number of heterogeneous devices. Secondly, the power consumption associated with existing blockchains due to their consensus algorithms (PoW), greatly hinders the efficiency of IoT systems that can potentially be built using them.
Seele's Heterogenous Forest Network architecture is one of a kind. This network architecture consists of a global service chain, known as the Meta chain that caters to a large number of subchains. Each subchain does the smallest set of duties, and while cohesive services run on a separate chain. This architecture will provide the necessary isolation between the subchains while also accommodating performance optimization techniques.
This Heterogeneous forest network structure can cater to complex IoT use cases in the real world. The heterogeneity aspect of the IoT systems can be best solved by using the forest network as it provides separation of duties while allowing for cross-chain communications.
Also, In the Seele network, ε-differential agreement (EDA) consensus algorithm makes sure that only a few nodes participate in the consensus at a given time. The resulting low transmission overhead makes Seele's consensus algorithm robust, efficient and best suited in an IoT environment as low power consumption is one of the major design goals while building an IoT application.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the convergence of IoT and blockchain will revolutionize every industry. However, existing blockchains are not tailor-made for IoT applications. Luckily with Seele, we have a Heterogeneous forest network structure and a consensus algorithm that suits the IoT design principles mainly addressing the issues of heterogeneity and power consumption. Seele's unique attributes may well usher an era in which IoT can successfully thrive on a blockchain.
